S-Adenosylmethionine (SAMe) is found in almost every tissue and fluid in the body. SAM plays a crucial role in the process called transmethylation. Methylation is involved in nearly every aspect of life. SAM is the primary “methyl” donor for a variety of methyl-transfer reactions in DNA, RNA, proteins, lipids, and small molecules in the body. Proper DNA methylation is essential for normal embryonic development. Methyl-transferase gene homozygously deleted (knocked out) has been proven lethal (Pegg, A. E., Feith, D. J., Fong, L. Y., Coleman, C. S., O'Brian, T. G., and Shantz, L. M., 2003, Biochem. Soc. Trans. 31, 356-360). DNA improperly methylated has been found in many tumors. Alterations in DNA methylation patterns induce the expression of oncogens or silence the expression of tumor suppressor genes, and methyl deficient diets have been shown to promote liver cancer in rodents.
The transsulfuration begins with S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), the residual structure of SAM upon donating the methyl group (transmethylation). Hydrolysis of SAH yields homocysteine, which in turns converts to cystathionine, then cysteine, and eventually, to glutathione, the hepatocellular antioxidant and life-saving detoxification agent.
The aminopropylation is another process initiated with SAM through decarboxylation. The decarboxylated SAM then couples with putrescine to generate spermidine and spermine which are critical to cell growth, differentiation and the stability of DNA and RNA. Furthermore, Methylthioadenosine (MTA), the by-product of polyamine synthesis, is a powerful analgesic and anti-inflammatory agent. This may be, at least partially, responsible for the clinical benefits observed in the treatment of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia with SAMe.
SAMe plays a role in the immune system, maintains cell membranes, and helps produce and break down brain chemicals, such as serotonin, melatonin, and dopamine. Deficiency of either vitamin B12 or foliate can reduce the level of SAMe. SAMe is also an antioxidant, a substance that protects the body from damaging reactive oxygen molecules in the body. These reactive oxygen molecules can come from inside the body or from environmental pollution and are thought to play a role in the aging process and the development of degenerative disease. In general, SAMe is thought to raise the level of functioning of other amino acids in the body.
By way of further background, S-adenosyl-1-methionine is a substrate of an enzyme lyase that converts S-adenosyl-1-methionine to the molecule methylthioadenosine and homoserine; it is an aminobutyric chain donor to tRNA; it is an aminoacidic chain donor in the biosynthesis of biotin; SAM-e, after decarboxylation, is the donor of aminopropyl groups for the biosynthesis of neuroregulatory polyamines spermidine and spermine. (Zappia et al (1979), Biomedical and Pharmacologcial roles of Adenosylmethionine and the Central Nervous System, page 1, Pergamon Press. N.Y.)
SAM-e has been used clinically in the treatment of liver disease (Friedel H, Goa, K. L., and Benfield P., (1989), S-Adenosyl-1-methionine: a review of its pharmacological properties and therapeutic potential in liver dysfunction and affective disorders in relation to its physiological role in cell metabolism. Drugs. 38, 389-416), arthritis (Di Padova C, (1987), S-adenosyl-1-methionine in the treatment of osteoarthritis: review of the clinical studies. Am J. Med. 83, (Suppl. 5), 6-65), and depression (Kagan, B, Sultzer D. L., Rosenlicht N and Gerner R. (1990), Oral S-adenosylmethionine in depression: a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled trial. Am. J. Psychiatry 147, 591-595.) Alzheimer's patients have reduced cerebral spinal fluid levels of S-adenosyl-1-methionine (Bottiglieri et al, (1990), Cerebrospinal fluid S-adenosyl-1-methionine in depression and dementia: effects of treatment with parenteral and oral S-adenosyl-1-methionine. J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatry 53, 1096-1098.) In a preliminary study, SAM-e was able to produce cognitive improvement in patients with Alzheimer's disease. (Bottiglieri et al (1994), The clinical potential of admetionine (S-adenosyl-1-methioinine) in neurological disorders. Drugs 48, 137-152.) SAM-e brain levels in patients with Alzheimer's disease are also severely decreased. (Morrison et al, (1996), Brain S-adenosylmethionine levels are severely decreased in Alzheimer's disease, Journal of Neurochemistry, 67, 1328-1331.) Patients with Parkinson's disease have also been shown to have significantly decreased blood levels of SAM-e. (Cheng et al, (1997), Levels of L-methionine S-adenosyltransferase activity in erythrocytes and concentrations of S-adenosylmethionine and S-adenosylhomocysteine in whole blood of patients with Parkinson's disease. Experimental Neurology 145, 580-585.)
SAM-e levels in patients treated with the antineoplastic drug methotrexate are reduced. Neurotoxicity associated with this drug may be attenuated by co-administration of SAM-e. (Bottiglieri et al (1994), The Clinical Potential of Ademetionine (S-adenosylmethionine) in neurological disorders, Drugs, 48 (2), 137-152.)
Cerebral spinal fluid levels of SAM-e have been investigated in HIV AIDS dementia Complex/HIV encephalopathy and found to be significantly lower than in non-HIV infected patients. (Keating et al (1991), Evidence of brain methyltransferase inhibition and early brain involvement in HIV positive patients Lancet: 337:935-9.)
De La Cruz et al have shown that SAM-e, chronically administered, can modify the oxidative status in the brain by enhancing anti-oxidative defenses. (De La Cruz et al, (2000), Effects of chronic administration of S-adenosyl-1-methionine on brain oxidative stress in rats. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives Pharmacol 361: 47-52.) This is similar to results obtained with SAM-e in liver and kidney tissue. Thus SAM-e would be useful as an antioxidant.
Oral SAM-e administration to patients with and without liver disease has resulted in increases in liver glutathione levels. (Vendemiale G et al, (1989), Effect of oral S-adenosyl-1-methionine on hepatic glutathione in patients with liver disease. Scand J Gastroenterol; 24: 407-15. Oral administration of SAM-e to patients suffering from intrahepatic cholestasis had improvements in both the pruritus as well as the biochemical markers of cholestasis. (Giudici et al, The use of admethionine (SAM-e) in the treatment of cholestatic liver disorders. Meta-analysis of clinical trials. In: Mato et al editors. Methionine Metabolism: Molecular Mechanism and Clinical Implications. Madrid: CSIC Press; 1992 pp 67-79.) Oral SAM-e administration to patients suffering from primary fibromyalgia resulted in significant improvement after a short term trial. (Tavoni et al, Evaluation of S-adenosylmethioine in Primary Fibromaylgia. The American Journal of Medicine, Vol 83 (suppl 5A), pp 107-110, 1987.) SAM-e has been used for the treatment of osteoarthritis as well. (Koenig B. A long-term (two years) clinical trial with S-adenosylmethionine for the treatment of osteoarthritis. The American Journal of Medicine, Vol 83 (suppl 5A), Nov. 20, 1987 pp 89-94)
SAM-e is clinically useful in many apparently unrelated areas because of its important function in basic metabolic processes. One of its most striking clinical uses is in the treatment of alcoholic liver cirrhosis that, until now, remained medically untreatable. Mato et al demonstrated the ability of oral SAM-e in alcoholic liver cirrhosis to decrease the overall mortality and/or progression to liver transplant by 29% vs 12% as compared with a placebo treated group. (Mato et al (1999), S-adenosylmethionine in alcohol liver cirrhosis: a randomized, placebo-controlled, double blind, multi-center clinical trial, Journal of Hepatology, 30, 1081-1089.)
Sam-e also attenuates the damage caused by tumor necrosis factor alpha and can also decrease the amount of tumor necrosis factor alpha secreted by cells. Consequently, conditions in which this particular inflammatory factor is elevated would benefit from the administration of SAM-e. (Watson W H, Zhao Y, Chawla R K, (1999) Biochem J August 15; 342 (Pt 1):21-5. S-adenosylmethionine attenuates the lipopolysaccharide-induced expression of the gene for tumour necrosis factor alpha.) SAM-e has also been studied for its ability to reduce the toxicity associated with administration of cyclosporine A, a powerful immunosuppressor. (Galan A, et al, Cyclosporine A toxicity and effect of the s-adenosylmethionine, Ars Pharmaceutica, 40:3; 151-163, 1999.)
SAM-e, incubated in vitro with human erythrocytes, penetrates the cell membrane and increases ATP within the cell thus restoring the cell shape. (Friedel et al, S-adenosyl-1-methionine: A review of its pharmacological properties and therapeutic potential in liver dysfunction and affective disorders in relation to its physiological role in cell metabolism, Drugs 38 (3):389-416, 1989)
SAM-e has been studied in patients suffering from migraines and found to be of benefit. (Friedel et al, S-adenosyl-1-methionine: A review of its pharmacological properties and therapeutic potential in liver dysfunction and affective disorders in relation to its physiological role in cell metabolism, Drugs 38 (3): 389-416, 1989)
SAM-e has been administered to patients with peripheral occlusive arterial disease and was shown to reduce blood viscosity, chiefly via its effect on erythrocyte deformability.
SAM-e is commercially available using fermentation technologies that result in SAM-e formulations varying between 60 and 80% purity. (That is, the final product contains 60-80% of the active or (S, S)-SAM-e and 20-40% of the inactive or (R, S)-SAM-e.) (Gross, A., Geresh, S., and Whitesides, Gm (1983) Appl. Biochem. Biotech. 8, 415.) Enzymatic synthetic methodologies have been reported to yield the inactive isomer in concentrations exceeding 60%. (Matos, J R, Rauschel F M, Wong, C H. S-Adenosylmethionine: Studies on Chemical and Enzymatic Synthesis. Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry 9, 39-52 (1987). Enantiomeric separation technologies have been reported to resolve the pure active enantiomer of SAM-e. (Matos, J R, Rauschel F M, Wong, C H. S-Adenosylmethionine: Studies on Chemical and Enzymatic Synthesis. Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry 9, 39-52 (1987; Hoffman, Chromatographic Analysis of the Chiral and Covalent Instability of S-adenosyl-1-methionine, Biochemistry 1986, 25 4444-4449: Segal D and Eichler D, The Specificity of Interaction between S-adenosyl-1-methionine and a nucleolar 2-O-methyltransferase, Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Vol. 275, No. 2, December, pp. 334-343, 1989) Newer separation technologies exist to resolve enantiomers on a large commercial production scale at a very economic cost. In addition, it would be conceivable to synthesize the biologically active enantiomer using special sterioselective methodologies but this has not been accomplished to date.
De la Haba first showed that the sulfur is chiral and that only one of the two possible configurations was synthesized and used biologically. (De la Haba et al J. Am. Chem. Soc. 81, 3975-3980, 1959) Methylation of RNA and DNA is essential for normal cellular growth. This methylation is carried out using SAM-e as the sole or major methyl donor with the reaction being carried out by a methyltransferase enzyme. Segal and Eichler showed that the enzyme bound (S, S)-SAM-e 10 fold more tightly than the biologically inactive (R, S)-SAM-e thus demonstrating a novel binding stereospecificity at the sulfur chiral center. Other methyltransferases have been reported to bind (R, S)-SAM-e to the same extent as (S, S)-SAM-e and thus (R, S)-SAM-e could act as a competitive inhibitor of that enzyme. (Segal D and Eichler D, The Specificity of Interaction between S-adenosyl-1-methionine and a nucleolar 2-O-methyltransferase, Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Vol. 275, No. 2, December pp. 334-343, 1989; Borchardt R T and Wu Y S, Potential inhibitors of S-adenosylmethionine-dependent methyltransferases. Role of the Asymmetric Sulfonium Pole in the Enzymatic binding of S-adenosyl-1-methionine, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 1976, Vol 19, No. 9, 1099-1103.)
SAM-e (whether in its optically pure enantiomeric form or in an enantiomeric or racemic mixture) presents certain difficult problems in terms of its stability at ambient temperature that result in degradation of the molecule to undesirable degradation products. SAM-e (and thus its enantiomers) must be further stabilized since it exhibits intramolecular instability that causes the destabilization and breakdown of the molecule at both high as well as ambient temperatures. SAM-e has therefore been the subject of many patents directed both towards obtaining new stable salts, and towards the provision of preparation processes that can be implemented on an industrial scale. The present patent thus envisions the use of any of the salts of SAM-e already disclosed in the prior art to stabilize the enantiomeric forms of SAM-e.
The clinical diagnostic field has seen a broad expansion in recent years, both as to the variety of materials of interest that may be readily and accurately determined, as well as the methods for the determination. Over the last several decades, testing for numerous substances such as drugs of abuse, or other biological molecules of interest has become commonplace. In recent years, immunoassay based on the interaction of an antibody with an antigen has been extensively investigated for this purpose. Based on the unique specificity and high affinity of antibodies, an immunoassay can accurately and precisely quantitate substances at the very low concentrations found in biological fluids.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods of detection and diagnosis of cancer and other diseases, as well as methods for monitoring the progress of the diseases and monitoring the progress of various treatments for cancer and other diseases by quantitating the methylating index as a biomarker.